[prepress]

There is another point in the C2300's favor, as I take a good look at the C52 and C2600. I noted that their inputs and outputs seemed to be the same. Both have four RCA inputs as well as the phono section. I have five sources, so to have either preamp means giving up my phono preamp to use the C52/C2600's built-in one. Now, one reason I use an outboard phono preamp, despite the onboard Mac preamps being quite good, is the ground spades on my tonearm cable are too small for the 2300's connectors and don't fit properly; it looks like it's the same for the 52 and 2600. A small thing, but it tweaked me enough that I put my modest Aragon 47k back into the system after using the 2300's onboard phono for a short while. And in the short while I used the 2300's on-board phono, I didn't hear anything I thought dramatically different or better.

The 2300 has more inputs than either the 52 or 2600 (unbalanced, anyway). I like that, and even though I may not use them all, it's a plus in my book. So not using the on-board phono is a practical decision, ultimately, even though it means extra cabling in the system.